Examining the Swiss Franc Versus the New Zealand Dollar in 2019

The performance of the Swiss franc is often assessed in relation to that of the British pound or the euro. However, we thought we would see how it has done thus far in 2019 against the New Zealand dollar instead. It finished 2018 on 1.5174, so would it go into the New Year in better shape?

The answer was perhaps not the one we were hoping for. Instead of seeing a positive start to the New Year, the franc ended up dipping to 1.5047 by the time the first few days of the year were over. By the middle of the following week, the Swiss franc had managed to regain some lost ground, rising to a high of 1.5160 by that point. However, it had clearly peaked too soon, as it dropped to 1.4872 by the time the week had ended.

There was some movement in the exchange rates the following week, but thankfully the changes were not as pronounced. Indeed, by Friday evening the Swiss franc had seen a tiny improvement, albeit only rising to 1.4894 by the end of trading. It seemed the days of the 1.51 exchange rate were over, at least for the time being. Would we see such a rate again at any point during the first couple of months of 2019?

If such a thing was to occur, we would need to wait for it. By the following Friday, the Swiss franc had dropped again, this time to 1.4712 against the New Zealand dollar. Clearly, the latter currency had managed to get the upper hand here. Question was, would the same continue to occur?

Fast forward one week and we find ourselves in February. The Friday marked February 1st, and it also marked the day when the franc dropped further, this time reaching 1.4571 against the New Zealand dollar. That was quite a drop, especially when we review the 1.5174 closing rate that saw out the last trade of 2018. Could we hope to see any improvement at all before February was out, or would we need to wait far longer for such an event to occur?

There was a surprising improvement to 1.4822 the following week, so perhaps February was not going to be all bad after all. This signified a rise of 0.0251 against the Kiwi dollar, so that was a marked improvement in just one week. Unfortunately, the Swiss currency was back to 1.4489 just one week later. Some improvement occurred the next week, as the franc rose to 1.4598, and by the end of the month it had achieved a higher rate still of 1.4704.

At the time of writing, the Swiss franc had an exchange rate of 1.4580 against the New Zealand dollar. Clearly, it was still way behind the year’s opening rate, with some work to do if it wanted to regain it anytime soon.